This page gives some informal guidance on how Fedora communities in different locales can establish Internet domains with the word "Fedora" in them. The [[Legal/Trademark_guidelines | Fedora trademark guidelines]] have specific requirements that must be met for setting up these domains, in order to preserve the value of the Fedora trademarks. The Fedora trademarks are owned by Red Hat worldwide, and apply to all Internet domains regardless of their country of origin or registrar.

This page gives some informal guidance on how Fedora communities in different locales can establish Internet domains with the word "Fedora" in them. The [[Legal/Trademark_guidelines | Fedora trademark guidelines]] have specific requirements that must be met for setting up these domains, in order to preserve the value of the Fedora trademarks. The Fedora trademarks are owned by Red Hat worldwide, and apply to all Internet domains regardless of their country of origin or registrar.

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== Buying a separate domain ==

== Buying a separate domain ==

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Not every local community requires a local domain. Many local communities can function perfectly well in the existing Fedora Project domain(s). Fedora already offers the ability for communities to provide complete translations for our main web site and other pages. We are also working on the capability to have a translated MediaWiki that will not require as much manual work on the part of translators.

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Not every local community requires a local domain. Many local communities can function perfectly well in the existing Fedora Project domain(s). Fedora already offers the ability for communities to provide complete translations for our main web site and other pages. The Fedora Project Wiki also has [[FedoraProject:Translating|translation functionality]].

In addition, splitting off a domain has the tendency to keep local community members from getting up to date information that flows on the official Fedora channels. It multiplies the number of areas a community member needs to monitor and thus takes away from the time they could otherwise spend on contribution directly to Fedora.

In addition, splitting off a domain has the tendency to keep local community members from getting up to date information that flows on the official Fedora channels. It multiplies the number of areas a community member needs to monitor and thus takes away from the time they could otherwise spend on contribution directly to Fedora.

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* Community does not own the domain name itself, although it controls the domain content.

* Community does not own the domain name itself, although it controls the domain content.

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{{Admon/note | Reserved Names | *.fedoracommunity.org two letter codes are reserved for official ISO-3166 country codes. Longer subdomains can be used for other purposes. }}

To use this option:

To use this option:

* If you are to be responsible for the hosts for the community site, ensure your Fedora Account System account is up to date. If someone else is to be responsible, make sure you have their name and complete contact information available.

* If you are to be responsible for the hosts for the community site, ensure your Fedora Account System account is up to date. If someone else is to be responsible, make sure you have their name and complete contact information available.

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* Email the [mailto:fedora-advisory-board@redhat.com fedora-advisory-board] with your request. Use the subject ''Community domain request''. Indicate whether you or someone else is to be responsible for the hosts. Do not post any personal information in the email. Please do indicate the following, though:

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* Email the {{fplist|advisory-board}} with your request. Use the subject ''Community domain request''. Indicate whether you or someone else is to be responsible for the hosts. Do not post any personal information in the email. Please do indicate the following, though:

** Names of the team that will maintain the site, and their current roles in the Fedora community

** Names of the team that will maintain the site, and their current roles in the Fedora community

** Services that will be offered through the new domain

** Services that will be offered through the new domain

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* The Fedora Board will respond as quickly as possible, and ask for any further information needed.

* The Fedora Board will respond as quickly as possible, and ask for any further information needed.

* The Fedora Board will consider the request and if granted issue a trademark license agreement to the domain owner.

* The Fedora Board will consider the request and if granted issue a trademark license agreement to the domain owner.

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** One of the factors used in consideration will be "likelihood to confuse". For example, if someone presented a fedora-<two letter code>.com domain, it would be rejected unless the two letter code is the official ISO-3166 country code for the community in question.

* A Board member will file a ticket in the [https://fedorahosted.org/fedora-infrastructure Fedora Infrastructure issue tracker], and send you a link.

* A Board member will file a ticket in the [https://fedorahosted.org/fedora-infrastructure Fedora Infrastructure issue tracker], and send you a link.

* After review, you will be assigned an appropriate subdomain and contacted for required host information. The [[Infrastructure]] team will ask for IP addresses, and will assign ''A'', ''AAAA'', and ''TXT'' records as needed.

* After review, you will be assigned an appropriate subdomain and contacted for required host information. The [[Infrastructure]] team will ask for IP addresses, and will assign ''A'', ''AAAA'', and ''TXT'' records as needed.

Revision as of 14:07, 2 March 2011

This page gives some informal guidance on how Fedora communities in different locales can establish Internet domains with the word "Fedora" in them. The Fedora trademark guidelines have specific requirements that must be met for setting up these domains, in order to preserve the value of the Fedora trademarks. The Fedora trademarks are owned by Red Hat worldwide, and apply to all Internet domains regardless of their country of origin or registrar.

Buying a separate domain

Not every local community requires a local domain. Many local communities can function perfectly well in the existing Fedora Project domain(s). Fedora already offers the ability for communities to provide complete translations for our main web site and other pages. The Fedora Project Wiki also has translation functionality.

In addition, splitting off a domain has the tendency to keep local community members from getting up to date information that flows on the official Fedora channels. It multiplies the number of areas a community member needs to monitor and thus takes away from the time they could otherwise spend on contribution directly to Fedora.

However, there are some good reasons for local domains to exist, and the Fedora Project realizes the importance of enabling the community to grow Fedora in localities around the world. Therefore we have a few options available to people who want to set up a domain to support this effort.

Hosting not provided by the Fedora Project Due to a number of constraints, the Fedora Project cannot provide hosting for local community web sites. Many companies offer very affordable plans for hosting, and there are also many groups and entities that offer hosting to community groups at very low or zero cost.

National top-level-domains

The Fedora Project tends to discourage the use of fedoraproject.XX or fedoraproject.org.XX domains. One of the primary reasons for establishing local community domains is to clearly identify that a community owns and is responsible for the content at that domain. Using the name fedoraproject in a domain reduces that clarity and could cause significant legal risks for our primary sponsor in some cases. We encourage domains to use a XX.fedoracommunity.org domain wherever possible, or at least a different domain name using fedora under a trademark license agreement as required in the Fedora trademark guidelines.

If you are setting up web applications on your hosts and need to use email addresses for messages, you may use username@fedoraproject.org wherever applicable. Hosts can be set to use the fedoraproject.org mail servers.

Options

There are essentially two options open to local communities who want to purchase a domain with the word "Fedora" in the name for purposes of Fedora community work.

Pre-purchased domain

Preferred option This option is preferable in most instances, because of the benefits listed below.

The Fedora Project or Red Hat can provide a subdomain in the *.fedoracommunity.org domain, and arrange for it to point to the fedoraproject.org domain name servers. Since we control those name servers, it is very easy for the Infrastructure team to then direct host queries to the appropriate community server(s).

Easiest way to preserve Fedora trademark coherence around the world since Red Hat technically owns the domain.

Community does not own the domain name itself, although it controls the domain content.

Reserved Names

.fedoracommunity.org two letter codes are reserved for official ISO-3166 country codes. Longer subdomains can be used for other purposes.

To use this option:

If you are to be responsible for the hosts for the community site, ensure your Fedora Account System account is up to date. If someone else is to be responsible, make sure you have their name and complete contact information available.

Email the advisory-board with your request. Use the subject Community domain request. Indicate whether you or someone else is to be responsible for the hosts. Do not post any personal information in the email. Please do indicate the following, though:

Names of the team that will maintain the site, and their current roles in the Fedora community

Services that will be offered through the new domain

An IP address or URL where the Board can look at the content and presentation, and verify that the trademark guidelines are being consistently applied

The Fedora Board will respond as quickly as possible, and ask for any further information needed.

The Fedora Board will take a rapid "consensus vote."

The consensus vote essentially answers the question, "Can the community set up this domain?"

After review, you will be assigned an appropriate subdomain and contacted for required host information. The Infrastructure team will ask for IP addresses, and will assign A, AAAA, and TXT records as needed.

Note that we cannot guarantee availability of a domain other than *.fedoracommunity.org, nor that we will provide more than one domain for a particular community group. Currently we do not plan to issue records other than those listed in the process above (e.g. MX for mail servers). The purpose of additional local community domains is to allow domains to set up web sites and forums in a locale's language, but to keep that community cohesive with the rest of the Fedora community.

Individual community leader must go through required paperwork for a trademark license agreement, and be legally responsible for the domain.

Delay of a few days to a few weeks, depending on locale.

Community leader(s) must deal with local Internet domain regulating agency.

Local community must pay all fees and costs for the domain registration.

Local community must remember to renew the domain regularly.

To use this option, email the fedora-advisory-board with your request, before you purchase any domain. The Fedora Board will respond as quickly as possible, consider the request, and arrange for a trademark license agreement as appropriate:

If you are to be responsible for the hosts for the community site, ensure your Fedora Account System account is up to date. If someone else is to be responsible, make sure you have their name and complete contact information available.

Email the fedora-advisory-board with your request. Use the subject Community domain request. Indicate whether you or someone else is to be responsible for the hosts. Do not post any personal information in the email. Please do indicate the following, though:

Names of the team that will maintain the site, and their current roles in the Fedora community

Name of the person who will own the domain

Services that will be offered through the new domain

An IP address or URL where the Board can look at the content and presentation, and verify that the trademark guidelines are being consistently applied

The Fedora Board will respond as quickly as possible, and ask for any further information needed.

The Fedora Board will consider the request and if granted issue a trademark license agreement to the domain owner.

One of the factors used in consideration will be "likelihood to confuse". For example, if someone presented a fedora-<two letter code>.com domain, it would be rejected unless the two letter code is the official ISO-3166 country code for the community in question.

After review, you will be assigned an appropriate subdomain and contacted for required host information. The Infrastructure team will ask for IP addresses, and will assign A, AAAA, and TXT records as needed.

↑This is very much like the matrimonial audience question, "Is there any reason why these two shall not be joined...?" Absent a good reason not to approve the domain, requests should be granted. Reasons to deny might include lack of clear domain ownership or good faith, or perceived intent to disparage, for example.